Two arrested for forging RT-PCR reports sent to five-day police custody

The two men arrested in the case of forging RT-PCR test results by using name of a private laboratory in Pune were found to be technicians who have worked with several laboratories in the city in the past, according to police

The two men arrested in the case of forging RT-PCR test results by using name of a private laboratory in Pune were found to be technicians who have worked with several laboratories in the city in the past, according to police. They were remanded to police custody of Deccan Gymkhana police station until April 23 by a local court.

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The two arrested men were identified as Sagar Ashok Hande (25), a resident of Sangam Chowk area of Pune and a native of Nanded, and Dayanand Bhimrao Kharate (21), a resident of Warje Malwadi area of Pune and a native of Osmanabad.

“They found a loophole when people started contacting them directly to collect swabs. We are investigating what kind of kits they used to collect these swabs of which they forged the reports. There are cases where the patients are actually positive and they have given them false negative reports,” said senior police inspector Murlidhar Karpe of Deccan Gymkhana police station.

The men are suspected to have multiple other accomplices and have duped 10-15 people so far, according to the police. The men have worked in two to three laboratories across the city and have a working knowledge of how the RT-PCR tests for Covid-19 infection is conducted and the method of issuing reports to the patients.

“GenePath labs got suspicious after someone who had developed symptoms came to them saying that their test was negative. In one other case, in one place on the report the accused had forgotten to edit the name of the person they had earlier sent it to. The laboratory got even more suspicious after they saw that the letterhead on which these reports were shown had been scrapped by the lab in the past,” said police sub inspector Abhijeet Kudale of Deccan police station.

The laboratory whose name they were misusing was identified as GenePath Laboratories located on Jangli Maharaj road, Pune. The administration manager of the lab, Rupesh Shrikant Nale had lodged a complaint at Deccan police station about the forged reports in the name of his employer being circulated in the city.

A case under Sections 419 (personation), 320 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468, 469, 471 (using forged as genuine), and 336 of the Indian Penal Code was registered at Deccan police station